Trap grain door



May 13, 1924. 1,494,273

P. E. MORN TRAP GRAIN DOOR Filed Sept. 11, )92? Z mae/awr Patented May 13, 1924.

means PETER E. MORAN, OF PERRY, IOWA.

TRAP GRAIN no on.

Application filed September 11, 1922. Serial No. 587,350.

To all whom t may concern? Be it known that I, Pn'rnn E. MonAN, a citizen hoi! the United States, and a resident of Perry, in the county oi Dallas and State ot owa, have invented a certain new and useful Trap Grain Door, ot which the following is a specilication.

The object oi my invention isto provide a trap grain door for use in connection with grain elevators, the parts being of simple, durable and comparatively inexpensive con struction.

Still another object is to provide manually operable means for opening the trap door.

Still another object is to provide means so that when a two part trap door is opened, the parts will lie in such position as will permit the wagon containing the grain to pass thereover. In this connection` it may be. mentioned that the body oi the vehicle containing the grain usually projects back over the door. l/Vhen the door is comparatively large, it is necessary to make itof two parts hingedly connected together, so that one part will rest against the yother so as to permit it to be raised under the wagon orl body of a truck. y

Still another object is toprovide a' structure operable by the raising and lowering of the door member for causing one part thereof to move to position where it will rest against the other part, when in raised position, and causing it to be moved to position where it will lie in the same plane and completely close the opening in the floor structure.

lith these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereina'xiter more fully set forth, pointed out'in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: i

Figure 1 is a plan view of portions ot the -floor of a grain elevator with my improved structure shown thereon.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal, sectional view taken on line 2 2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 3 3 of Figure 2; and

Figure t is an enlarged sectional View through the door, taken on line i-4: of Figure 1.

In the accompanying drawings, I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate generally the supporting beams 'for the iioor 11. In the floor 11 is provided a door opening through which the grain from the ve hicles is dumped into the bin below the licor, from whence it is taken by a set of endless elevator buckets up into the elevator proper.

Received within the door opening` in the floor 11 is a door member, which comprises the sections 12 and 13. The section 12 has hinge straps lll iixed thereto. Fixed to the iioor 11 adjacent the straps 14C are the corresponding straps 15. llLhe straps 14 and 15 have projecting ends which are provided with registering eyes. Through these eyes is received a rod 16, which is lined securely to the hinge members la by means of pins 17.

The structure just described serves to hinge the section 12 to the tloor. The sections 12 and 13 are hinged together on their under side by hinges 18.

Two bearing plates 19 are securely Jfas tened to the floor 11 at each side oi the door opening, and extend( approximately the length thereof. Brackets 2O are provided at the outer corners of the section 13, lwhich serve to rotatably mount two rollers 2l.

The edge olf the iloor adjacent to the door opening is provided with inclined side edges 22 so that any grain will slide in through the door opening.

The edge of the door members 12 and 13 are correspondingly inclined so as to be received against the inclined edges 22 of the floor 11. In this connection, it may be mentioned that the inclined edges 22 orn the floor 11 tend to support the door member 12.

The beams 1() are so arranged that the door member 12 rests thereon. and in order to prevent any grain from lodging upon the beams 10, the upper edges thereof below the door are sharpened, as at 23, so that the grain will not become lodged thereon.

.The purpose of'providing the two-part door is for permitting wagons or other suitable vehicles to pass thereover when it is in its raised position, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 of the drawings.

rlhe wheels of the wagon rest upon each side of the door opening and upon the floor 11. It the two part door were not provided, then the door of suliicient size to accommodate the grain would extend` up so far th at it would be engaged by the Wagon.

I will now explain the structure employed for raising and lowering the door member 12 and for properly positioning the member B relative to the member A.

One end of the rod 16 has a downwardly projecting,r crank arm 24, which projects through a slot in the iloor 11.

Pivoted to the crank arm 24; near the bend therein are the parallel spaced levers 25, which project downwardly and away trom the arm 24; when the door is in its closed position'. Pivoted between the levers 26 at their :tree ends, is a pulley 2T,

Secured to the floor 11, parallel to the beams 10, and positioned adjacent the slot 25 between said slot and the door opening, is a joist 28. Pulleys 29 and B() are rotatably mounted on the joist 28. A lever 31, having a weighted head-32 at .its tree end, is pivote/cito the joist 28. The lever is so p'ositioned that when it is raised toward a horie Zontal position, the head 32 will. approach the pulley 30.

A cable 33 is iastened to the end oi? the arm 24, extends around the pulley 21T, over the pulleys 29 and 307 and is t'asteued to the lever 31 near the'head 2. The cable il?) is of such length that when the door is closed', the lever will be .in its raised position. The lever is of such length that when the door is in position shown in dottedv lines, the lever will have swung downwardly close to a vertical position, as illustrated. y rlihe purpose ot' the levers ab is to keep that portion ot the rope which is fastened to the lever 24, in order that the pull against the arm may not vary materially. The use ot the levers E26 also allows the arm 24e to swing through a greater angle than would be otherwise practical.

As the arm 2st is moved .trom its full line position to its dotted line position` the levers i6 will first close over the arm 24 similar to the closing ot a jacldmiie, duringl a p0rtion ot the movement and the three will move together as a unit duringn the remain'- der ot the movement.

ln order that the lever 2G may be stopped in its proper position while moving downwardly a. hook Illis provided wl'iielrslides in a bearingl 35 on the inner lever QG. The hook :-flis pivoled to the joist in such position as to occupy. when the levers it are in their lowered position, approxiinately an arc ol. a circle having` the rod 1G asa center. 1t is ot the correct length to stop the levers 26 when they are somewhat past av position midway between closed and open positions of the arm 24.

A handle rod 3G is linked to the door member 12, by means oft an eye 3T. The head 32 is ot such weight. as to almost balance the weipliit ot the door. By pulling the rod 3G', it will,l be seen that the door may be' raised with very little eii'ort. As the door is raised, the rollers 21 will support the weight of the section 13 while travelling over the plates 19.

1t will be seen that I have provided a very eiiicient device for opening' the door and tor causing the two parts thereof to so move that they will not interfere with any vehicle passii'igthereover.

In. this connection, it may be mentioned that a single piece door may be used. which is comparatively narrower then the rollers 21 are not required.

Some changes may be made in the construction, and arrangement ot the various parts ot my invention7 without departinl:T lrom the real spirit and purpose ot my invention and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified torms ot structure or use of mechanical equii-falents. which may be reasonably included within their scope.

l claim as my invention:

1. A door structure ot the class described including a door member hinged at one end, a lever secured to said door men'iber on the under side thereot7 a weighted arm hinge-elly mounted, a liexible element secured to said lever at one end and to the weighted arm at the other end a guide pivotally mounted on said lever and capable' oit movement relative thereto over which said vflexible element travels and a flexible, element operable for causing the weighted arm to swing on its hinge for the purposes state-d.

2. A door structure oi the classA described including a two part door member hinged at one end, a support for the door member, the two parts ot the door member being hingedly connected together, a lever secured to one part of the door member, a weighted arm swingingly mounted. a flexible element er'inneetinir said lever with said arm. a guide ior said tiexible element pivotally mounted on said lever. means tor limitingthe movement ot the lguide in onel direction and means jt'or causing' one part ot thedoor member to rest against the other when in one posit-ion and for causing` it to move to position where it will be in the same plane when in another position.

Des Moines? Iowa, September 7,1922;

PETER- E. MORAN, 

